Lewis Hamilton faces a make-or-break race in Brazil. Any result other than a win will make F1 championship victory nigh-on impossible.

• Lewis Hamilton's grip on the F1 world title is slipping away and anything other than victory this weekend could be terminal.
• The Mercedes driver is 19 points behind his rival Red Bull's Max Verstappen with just four races left.
• F1 heads to Brazil this weekend with a maximum of 29 points on offer to the drivers.

Reigning Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton faces a make-or-break race this weekend with anything other than victory seriously damaging his chances of retaining his title for a fifth consecutive season.

Hamilton has won the past four drivers championships, but is currently locked in the closest title race in years with Red Bull's Max Verstappen finally providing Hamilton with a sturdy challenge for the first time since he was beaten by teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016.

24-year-old Verstappen, 12 years younger than Hamilton, leads the way on 312.5 points, 19 ahead of his Mercedes rival.

With four races left, including a sprint qualifying at Brazil this weekend which gives three points to the winner, there is a maximum of 107 points left for a single driver to win

If Hamilton fails to achieve victory on Sunday, however, his chances would take a serious hit.

Should Verstappen win, it would mean Hamilton could come first in all three of the remaining races and still not be guaranteed the title.

In that scenario, Verstappen could still win by finishing second in each one of the races.

Hamilton's form going into this weekend does also not make good viewing for Mercedes fans.

Of the past eight races, Hamilton has won just one race and is winless in the last three. Verstappen, meanwhile, has crossed the line first in the last two races and has come no lower than second since the Italian Grand Prix in September.

If Verstappen does win this weekend, he will double the number of victories that Hamilton has achieved this season, with 10 compared to Lewis' five.

Mercedes in danger of losing constructors title

While Hamilton is fighting for the drivers title, his team Mercedes is also at risk of losing the constructors championship for the first time since 2013.

Mercedes took a commanding lead early in the season, but Sergio Perez's late season uptick in form has allowed Red Bull to cut the gap to just one point.

In the other garage, Mercedes is suffering the consequences of announcing midseason that one of its drivers, Valterri Bottas, is heading out of the door.

Following the last race in Mexico, team principal Toto Wolff blamed Bottas for allowing Verstappen past before the Dutchman went on to achieve victory.

"That should not happen," the Austrian told Sky Sports.

"We had two cars in front and seemed to open up the scene for Max to come around the outside.

"And even the spin afterwards, and the complete loss of points with Valtteri's car when there could have been a third or fourth place is annoying, to say the least."

Since earning his only win of the season in Turkey, Bottas has earned a total of eight points, while Perez has scored 30.

If that trend continues, then Hamilton's title won't be the only one swapping garages at the end of the season.